China president heads to Caribbean to talk trade

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad 
Chinese President Xi Jinping is shopping in the Caribbean for new sources of energy for his growing country.

President Xi arrived in the rain Friday for a state visit to the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, a leading supplier of natural gas. The Chinese embassy says in a statement that Xi will seek to deepen trade and investment in energy when he meets with Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

He'll also attend a groundbreaking on Saturday for a hospital funded in part by China.

Trinidad has long been a major exporter of natural gas to the United States. But that has dropped as U.S. fuel production surges thanks to new exploration and drilling technology.